Dija's Day with Kid Flash
by wryencounter
Summary: Dija is an OC, Bart babysits her for the day. If you need more info on her read my fic titled Dija's Day with Batman.


"Hey, cutie, guess whose turn it is to babysit you!" Bart said as he lifted Dija from her playpen in the watchtower. She giggled. It was the expected reaction. The two year old seemed to find everything amusing.

"Bart!" she said excitedly, making her stuffed clownfish that went everywhere with her kiss him on the nose.

"Correctamundo, little fish." He grinned at her.

Ever since Wally disappeared—he refused to believe he was dead—Bart found it harder to smile every day. The only things that could make him smile easily were Jaime and the babies. Unfortunately Raquel didn't bring Amistad to the watchtower often, but Conner and La'gaan brought Dija every day. Since Jaime was just as busy with hero stuff as Bart was and they often didn't have the same days off Bart took the advantage to babysit Dija.

Adjusting the toddler in his arms he said, "How about we get some lunch first?"

Dija squealed in what he assumed to be agreement.

After a relatively quick lunch (quick by Bart's standards anyway) he asked Dija what she wanted to do next, to which she enthusiastically replied, "Swim!"

"Swimming it is!" he said, picking her up.

Walking to the pool at a decent pace because he had learned the hard way _not_ to zip off at fast paces with Dija after she had eaten, she was practically bouncing in his arms with excitement. He remembered the argument Conner and La'gaan had had the first time they had taken Dija down to the pool. (With a few nosy teammates in tow.)

La'gaan had unceremoniously tossed Dija into the water without any prompt. Conner had looked ready to punch his boyfriend.

"Relax, superfish. She's got gills, plus she's going to be a natural in no time." La'gaan had said, watching the water and waiting for Dija to surface.

"She's _three months old_!" Conner hissed in response.

"And in Atlantis we learn to swim in the first few days after being born, chum."

No one had dared to say anything while they watched the water in worry like Conner, while La'gaan watched it with expectation. A few moments later Dija surfaced and everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

"That's my girl." La'gaan said before jumping into the water with her.

Which was why Bart didn't have any qualms about setting Dija down once they reached the pool and letting her toddle off towards it on her own.

After a couple of hours of letting Dija swim, and occasionally walking around the edge and letting her try to splash him, Bart decided it was time to find something else to do. If he left it up to her he was pretty sure she'd be content to swim all day.

Pulling Dija from the pool swiftly Bart wrapped her in one of the towels from the stack by the locker room doors. He knew she would have been fine whether he dried her off or not, but he didn't exactly relish the idea of carrying a wet two year old around.

Hitting the kitchen for a snack ("because swimming uses a lot of energy, and you can't tell me I was the only one who's hungry") Bart found himself wandering towards the memorial garden.

Bart found himself spending more and more of his time in the memorial garden lately. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad one. He hadn't really talked to anybody about it either, no matter how much Black Canary insisted he talked to _someone_, even if it wasn't her.

As soon as he stepped into the garden Dija pointed at Wally's memorial hologram and shouted, "Bart!"

A nasty feeling took hold of Bart's heart. Not at Dija; he didn't think that was possible. But at the injustice of it all. He had told Barry it was too soon for him to put on the Kid Flash uniform. Personally he thought they should retire it. Impulse was a good enough persona and it suited him better anyway. Wally would always be Kid Flash. Bart was just wearing his uniform.

"Not Bart," he said. "Wally."

"Wall-lee?" Dija tried to copy him.

"Right, Wally." Bart said with a sad smile.

When Dija turned in his arms to pat his cheek softly with her hand he had to wonder where she got it from. She was almost three and she seemed better at feelings than either of her dads seemed to be.

Sitting in front of Wally's memorial with Dija in his lap he told her about his cousin. And the future. She was two, how much of this was she going to remember anyway? He told her about how Wally was supposed to be alive and fighting the good fight in the future, and that he'd messed something up here in the past.

Bart knew the consequences of trying to rewrite history, but this isn't what he'd wanted to happen.

He must have been talking longer than he thought because Dija had fallen asleep in his lap a while ago, and from behind him there was a call of, "Hey, kid!"

When La'gaan said that he wasn't sure if he was referring to him as Kid Flash or just as a kid, since he was one of the youngest on the team. He tried to not let it bother him too much that he couldn't figure out which one it was.

"You seen my daughter around here?" La'gaan said. He knew exactly where Dija was.

At the sound of her father's voice Dija started to stir.

"Of course I have, I haven't taken my eyes off her all day! She's irresistibly cute, wonder where she gets it from, cause it's certainly not from you or Conner." Bart joked.

"You better watch yourself, sharkbait." La'gaan growled, but there was no real threat behind it.

At that Dija turned around to look over Bart's shoulder. "Papa!" she said as excitedly as a two year old who'd just woken up from a nap could.

"There's my guppy," La'gaan said, kneeling a few feet away from Bart and waiting for Dija to come to him.

She hugged Bart around his neck and kissed him on the cheek before yawning, "Thank you."

Climbing out of Bart's lap she toddled over to La'gaan who said, "Thanks for watching her today, Bart."

"Anytime," he replied.

"Your uncle's here making dinner, you coming?"

"Right behind you." Bart said, but he didn't get up right away. He stayed and looked up at Wally's holographic for a few more minutes before finally getting up and racing after La'gaan and Dija, catching them just before they made it to the kitchen.


End file.
